Gallon a day?

cwolfman13 wrote: »

just stay hydrated...look at your pee...if it's pale yellow to clear, you are hydrated. Everything else is just a general guideline...you may or may not need a gallon per day...just stay hydrated.

I second this. Except I'd add that if it's perfectly clear, drink a little less because you're over hydrating and that can be just as bad as dehydrating.

I just drink when I'm thirsty. It hasn't been a problem for me. The times when I wind up dehydrated, I can feel it coming on, but I can't do anything about it. On the other hand, my girlfriend is never thirsty. She drinks water because she knows she has to, but left to her own devices, she just won't.

Yeah you go by the color of your urine. If it's a light yellow color you're good.

I drink maybe a total of 4-5 cups of water, then I have like 2-3 cups of tea a day. For a normal day, that's plenty. If it's hot outside, I usually bump that up to 6-7 cups of water, but it depends on how active I am.

The color of your urine is NOT always an accurate indicator of good hydration. I find that I do need a gallon of water a day. This includes my coffee, tea, milk, or anything else I would drink. I fell into the habit of not drinking enough. I was hungry a lot. Thirst can be misinterpreted as hunger if you aren't hydrated well enough. I was much less tired after getting into the habit of staying hydrated. Listening to my body wasn't helping me a bit as I never felt thirsty no matter how little I ever drank. If you think your thirst signals may be failing then I would keep track of how many cups of fluids you get each day. If I don't keep track I forget.

I had kidney stones...twice and was advised by my consultant to drink 3 litres a day. He said "You urine should be the colour of fine champagne" (like I have any idea what fine champagne looks like) then he added "but if it starts to fizz come back and see me"

I probably still don't drink 3 litres but do try to be mindful of my water intake.

diannethegeek wrote: »

As a general rule of thumb, this is what matters:



All of the different rules out there are just different ways to be sure you get there. What matters is how much you find you need to take in based on your real world experience.

I'm so glad you posted this! I drink 12 cups of water a day and have noticed my pee is bright orange but I don't feel dehydrated...now iwonder it its the vitamins I just started.

I drink when I'm thirsty. I don't need another thing to keep track of. Haven't died yet.

I look at my pee, and drink water when I'm thirsty.

I always have 40 ounces when I wake up.

I drink around 2.5-3 litres (around 7 pints) per day around 1.5 litres at work and another 1.5-2 litres at home/on way into work, if I am exercising might even have a bit more. It's a running joke between myself and my flatmate because I always have stacks of water bottle multi-packs in the house.

There really is a lot of hype around water, I don't monitor my water, I drink when I'm thirsty, but I also drink a lot of tea.
The Pee chart posted is good info in general though.

aflane wrote: »

I've always been a big water drinker, since I was a teen (daily avg is 1+ gallons). There's an added benefit that people either forget or don't know about... staying properly hydrated acts as the 'fountain of youth' for your body. I'm in my 50s, and due to my regular water consumption, I have no wrinkles or crow's feet. None! When people hear my age, they want to know my skincare regime. I strongly believe that my decades of staying well hydrated works better than any cream or lotion.

This will mainly occur as a result of a combination of lucky genetics, limited sun exposure, not having been a smoker and to a degree, being overweight, if that applies to you. Drinking water does not "plump out" age-related wrinkles from the inside out - they will occur regardless.

Not saying that being hydrated isn't good for your body overall, because it is, and it may have a small benefit in keeping the skin a bit more elastic and less dry as opposed to someone who is chronically under-hydrated, but it hasn't been proven to have a direct effect on whether you get wrinkles or not.